Sometimes, obeying hurts
by imbloodycrowley
Summary: Shitty title, but... eh, I couldn't think of anything else. The notes have more of an explanation than the summary, but.. anyways.. "Come here, turn around." When Laura reached over to take Pietro by the arm, she didn't miss that he flinched. "The consequences of playing with Clint's arrows are getting a spanking."


**Alright, so… you have to understand, I am the fucking queen of starting stories and not finishing them, which I HATE about myself… *looks into the distance at all of my half-written stories with tears in my eyes* anyways… I have another one (which is much longer) In the works, but I just got this in my head tonight and decided to write it because its lowkey adorable and… ahhhh! So, you need to understand that this is an alternate ending to AOU where Wanda and Pietro (WHO ARE BOTH VERY MUCH ALIVE, I KNOW IT), go to Clint's farm to stay with he and his family for a bit while they re-adjust to being off the streets. One more thing, I hate myself for writing this bc Laura is such a sweetie and ahhh I love her but also I'm using her as a tool for this story because I'm shitty, so… yea. Warnings that any of the characters may be a bit OOC, and this is probably pretty unrealistic, but… depends on your POV so like pls no hateful comments bc I am a smol sensitive person… also one last note, (besides the one at the end… whatever) I write the twins as super close and codependent, because as for me, that's what I saw in AOU. Dunno what movie ya'll mofos watched. anyways… enjoy!**

"They _never_ leave each other's side, Clint." Laura spoke to her husband from their spot in the kitchen, preparing dinner for the family. Her eyes were on the twins, who currently sat on the floor with the Barton children in the living room. "At first I thought it was because of the scare Pietro had from his injuries at the battle, but.. It's been a month. I thought for sure they would have gotten a little more individuality by now."

"I think it's just the way they are." Clint answered, reaching for one of the dinner rolls, only to have his hand smacked away. "What? I don't see why it's such a bad thing. They like being around one another, they're all they've ever really had." He had turned to look at them as well, now, since he obviously wasn't getting any food before dinner. Wanda was speaking softly to one of the children with a toy she had in one hand, her brother's hand clasped in her lap with the other. He turned to look at his wife, who still held the same look of concern on her face—apparently, she was unconvinced by his reasoning. "Fine, fine. If you're really so worried about it, how about I get Wanda to come out to the barn with me and feed the horses for a few minutes. I'll have Pietro stay in here to help with the kids. Deal?"

That sounded like a start, at least. Their closeness didn't bother Laura—not at all. She found it endearing if nothing else. But… it also seemed unhealthy, the level of codependency they seemed to have. She swore the only time they separated was to shower or use the bathroom, and in either case the other was usually right in the next room. She nodded. "I think it would be good for them, Clint. I do."

"You got it. We'll be back in ten minutes and we can all have dinner together." He pressed a kiss to her cheek as he headed towards the living area. "Hey, Wanda? You wanna come help me feed the horses while Laura finishes up dinner for everyone?"

Wanda gave a small smile as her affirmation as she stood, her hand never leaving her brothers. She was patient as he rose up after her, following along towards the door where Clint waited. "You cannot handle it yourself, old man? You need us to help?" Pietro teased, grinning at the man.

"Oh, actually, Pietro—I was going to see if you'd hang out in here with Laura and the kiddos for just a few minutes to help her out? If you just keep an eye on them, it'll be a big help to her.." He was already regretting this. He already saw it on the kid's face—he was taking this as some sort of rejection from Clint. The younger man, of course, didn't say anything, though. Just moved his gaze to his sister's, who reluctantly gave him a small nod. "It will be well," She assured him, bringing his hand to her mouth to press a quick kiss to it. "We will be right back, and we will have dinner together."

Truthfully, Wanda wasn't sure about this herself, but… she also knew that she and her brother had a _very_ good thing going here, and the last thing she wanted to do was to upset Laura or Clint for being disobedient or disrespectful. She suppressed a shudder at those words… they had been used frequently at Hydra as an excuse to give her brother and she beating after beating, always with some new excuse. This was not Hydra, though. They would have to make some small attempt to _try_ and start trusting the Barton's, at least to an extent.

She smiled when her brother pressed a kiss to her cheek and reluctantly released her hand. "Try and behave yourself, kid. Just listen to Laura." Clint added with a wink, pulling the door open. "We'll be right back, promise."

Pietro watched the two go before slowly turning back towards the living area, quite unsure of what to do with himself without Wanda at his side. He returned to his spot on the floor with the children, picking up one of the toys to show Lila.

It had been no more than two minutes since the front door had closed, that Laura heard a crash in the living room where Pietro and the two older children were. She sat down her cooking utensils to hurry in there, letting out a sigh when she saw what it had come from, rather relieved. She tried her hardest not to laugh—it was rather endearing seeing Pietro standing over the children, helping them pick up Clint's bag of arrows that were now scattered over the floor. "Guys, you know you're not supposed to play with daddy's arrows." She forced herself to be serious—it really could be dangerous, and they knew better. She really wished Clint would be better about putting them away, though. "Do you remember _why_ we don't we play with those?"

"Because they're dangerous." Lila answered. She knew that, and she'd even reminded Cooper of it… right before he'd disregarded her completely and grabbed the bag anyways—he'd just wanted to show Pietro that he could be like his dad.

"And what happens when we play with the arrows, even though you _know_ you're not supposed to..?" Laura prompted, raising her eyebrows at her children.

"We get a spanking." Cooper answered, his eyes wide, as though he was just remembering the answer to this himself.

"That's right, you get a spanking. Because you know that it's dangerous, and you're not supposed to do it, but you took out the arrow anyways. So, who decided it was a good idea to play with Daddy's arrows?"

She'd expected the following silence, but not so much the answer that came after. "Pietro did it," Cooper answered, pointing up at him. "He tried to take one of Daddy's arrows and the bag fell over, even after we told him the rules." He answered. He was sure Pietro would understand—he was always very kind to the kids, and he wouldn't get in trouble for it, because he was a grown up. And plus, Cooper _really_ didn't want a spanking tonight.

Laura was silent for a moment, doing her best to hide the surprise on her face, "oh.." she slowly nodded. "Is that true, Pietro?"

Pietro's brow was furrowed, he was looking down at Cooper. He seemed rather confused, even as he nodded his reply. "I did," he answered. He wasn't going to get the little boy in trouble, even though he _was_ quite surprised that he'd just been blamed for something he _definitely_ hadn't done. "I am sorry." He added, lifting his gaze to look at Laura.

Well, _shit._ Laura cursed herself for not choosing her words more carefully before she'd spoken. But what sort of parent was she if she held her children to one standard, and a house guest to a lower one, simply because he was older? She had really backed herself into a corner with this one, but… she couldn't let her threat remain idle, and she certainly couldn't allow her children to think that adults were allowed to get away with breaking for the rules without consequence, _solely_ because they were adults. "Well," she hated what she was about to do. "If you want to play with the arrows, go ahead and pick one up and bring it over here."

And _oh,_ the face he gave her. Utterly confused, his brow was still furrowed. She had to force herself to give her best mom look, raising her eyebrows expectantly as she held out a hand.

"Well? Let me see it." It made her feel worse that she probably wasn't getting the full story. That he'd probably just not known, had just been curious.. or worse, if one of her children had actually been the one to do it, and just blamed Pietro to get out of trouble. But then again, if that was the case, this would certainly be a lesson about lying, seeing someone else take the consequences. She just hated that it was at Pietro's expense.

Pietro glanced down at the scattered arrows on the floor, reaching down to pick one up. He thought maybe he knew where this was going, but he rather hoped he was wrong. Maybe he was just being told to pick it up to help clean the mess… but probably not. He slowly walked over to place it Laura's outturned hand, then lifting his eyes to meet hers, waiting for further instruction.

"Come here, turn around." When Laura reached over to take Pietro by the arm, she didn't miss that he flinched. "The consequences of playing with Clint's arrows are getting a spanking." She said, guiding Pietro to stand in front of her, but facing so that she could still have access to her target. She felt even more guilty still at the way he seemed to stumble over his feet nervously, his gaze now anywhere but meeting hers. When she spoke, it was obviously more for Cooper and Laura to hear than for him—after all, she would most definitely not be following through with this if it weren't for the onlooking children that learned from everything they heard and saw.

"Pietro didn't listen to the rules, and he played with Daddy's arrows. So, he's going to get five swats _with_ the arrow." She explained, feeling his arm tense beneath her hold at his words. She eyed the poor boy. He was being absolutely compliant-but seemed far too freaked out to even look at her.

Both Lila and Cooper sat, eyes wide as they watched, rather stunned into silence that _Mommy_ was actually going to _spank_ Pietro. Even grown ups got spankings? Cooper hadn't fully thought this through.

Laura felt Pietro lean away from her when she lined up the arrow to his ass—not as though he was trying to pull away. He was utterly still besides that, it was like he was just trying to get some sort of distance between them. His mind was going a million miles a minute. Clint had told him to ' _just listen to Laura',_ and he was doing just that. He couldn't imagine Wanda would be too pleased about this, though. Not that she would not be upset with him, no. Never with him—with Laura, rather, for putting a hand on him. He felt himself jump a little when Laura did actually hit him with the arrow—mostly because he wasn't fully ready for it. He only lowered his head further and completely stilled himself as she continued on, determined not to get himself into more trouble.

He really was a trouble maker, but he'd tried to be good here—he really had. At Hydra, he was reminded again and again of all the problems he caused, and that there were consequences for that. At times it had seemed as though they were making things up only to have an excuse to punish him. This, though, he _really_ hadn't done.

Laura was quick about her work—she didn't want to drag this out and further upset the boy. She was fairly quick to lay down three more quick blows, making sure not to overlap any. She didn't * _actually_ want to hurt him, this was just to make an impression on both him and the children. She was just laying down the last blow where his thighs met his ass, ready to be finished with this—when the front door came back open.

Clint was the first to come in—Wanda walking a ways behind him. Obviously having no idea what on earth what was going on, his first instinct was to rush over to the two. No sooner had Laura released her grip on Pietro that he was stumbling back, away from the both of them, apologizing profusely. Clint caught his arm as he backed away and Pietro's immediate reaction was to duck his head, turning it away from the archer. He sure as hell wasn't about to put up a fight, not with Wanda so close to being in the room now—he would _not_ put her at risk. But he also didn't want his face to catch the full force of whatever secondary beating he was about to receive, either. He changed his mind, he thought. He didn't want to be here, not anymore. _They don't like me, not really. I am bad, I am wrong._

"What the hell just happened?" Clint asked, releasing Pietro's arm when he noticed the way the boy cowered away from him.

Pietro wanted to go up to their room and be with Wanda, _away._ He didn't want to stay down here while it was all explained, he wasn't even sure he was ready to know if Clint would become angry and give him a _proper_ whipping with one of the arrows. Surely the archer would also want to make sure Pietro wasn't teaching the children ill manners.

Suddenly, there was a red mist in the room— _Wanda_. She would have seen the entire thing in everyone's heads, and— "Wanda, Wanda, it is well. I am well." He was at her side in an instant, cupping her face in his hands, trying to keep her away from Laura, which is exactly where she was heading. He managed to get her back to the doorframe, keeping one hand on her face while putting the other gently through her hair, still trying to get her attention whilst calming her. "I am well," he repeated, though he couldn't help trying to keep an eye on Clint.

"Pietro played with the arrows," Cooper answered his father's question, his eyes still wide as he stood next to Lila, who looked like she might cry. "And when we play with the arrows, we get a spanking… so Pietro did."

Clint fell silent, watching Laura firstly, who seemed to be rather distressed herself. He went to embrace his wife, speaking softly to her as he gently slipped the arrow out of her hand, tossing it to the ground. Pietro didn't miss that. He really did need to get his sister out of the house before something happened, though. "Am—am I done?" he asked, turning back to look at Clint and Laura again. "We can go?"

' _Am I done?'_ Clint swallowed thickly at the question, and the implied ones that went unasked. _'Are you going to hit me again?' 'Am I about to be yelled at?' 'Are you going to make me submit to you in front of the children and my sister?'_ _Shit.._ this was his fault. Him, he knew about the twins' past with Hydra, about their time on the streets and in orphanages… those details, though, he hadn't shared with Laura. He was now sort of wishing that he would've.

"You're—you're done, yea. Go ahead, kid." Clint had to deal with his family right now—he'd go and find the twins once he knew Laura and the kids were alright.

In an instant, Pietro was guiding his sister off the porch, both of his hands on her shoulders, _far_ too eager to be out of there. He scooped her up after taking a few steps, taking them just a ways from the barn, out near some trees, where they could be alone. As soon as he sat her down, he was already pressing more kisses into her hair, attempting to calm her still. "I am well, I am well." He cooed at her, ducking his head to be eye level with her. "Wanda, you cannot hurt them. She did not know—"

"She should not have touched you." Wanda spoke, finally able to find her voice. "She—she _hit_ you." She was growling now. "With one of his—"

"Shh, shh." Pietro was stroking through her hair again, cradling her to his chest.

Wanda pressed her face to his neck, closing her eyes as she watched his thoughts, seeing everything through his eyes. The confusion, first. The realization, and the dread, the brief physical pain, and then the compliance. The compliance was what fucking enraged her—the fact that that woman would _dare_ —"I love you," He spoke again, running a hand down her arm to take her hand in his. "I love you, Wanda, and I did not want to ruin this for us. I want us to have a place to live."

It was her turn to cup his face in her hands, tilting her head to the side. She really did adore him more than anything. He was so _good_ , so pure..

She turned away from her brother only when she heard steps approaching them. She felt her hands starting to glow again when she saw Clint not far away. She felt the anger burning deep inside of her again _. He_ had separated her from her brother. _His_ wife hurt her Pietro. In her brother's head, she felt a small amount of dread rising up again—he thought the archer was coming to take a turn laying his hands on him. To which she replied, "If he tries, I will kill him." She spoke loudly enough that the archer could hear as he walked up, meeting Clint's gaze with a cold look as he stopped in front of them.

Pietro was looking the archer over, eyeing both of his hands, only to find they were empty. Maybe he really _wasn't_ upset with him, after all.

"Guys.." Clint started, running a hand over his face. Where did he even begin? He was pretty sure Wanda was ready to murder him, and Pietro.. _poor kid._ "Cooper told us what happened, Pietro. Laura—she didn't know. She feels awful, I'm so sorry.. It was a misunder—" 

"And that makes it alright for her to touch my brother?" Wanda challenged, tilting her head at him as a red glow came over her eyes for a brief moment. "* _You_ told us it would only be for a moment. _You_ separated us. _I_ told Pietro that it would be fine—" She felt her brother's hands on her shoulders, calming her, reminding her that he was there, as always, _as it was supposed to be._ She was upsetting herself further, she knew that. Forcing herself to take in a breath, she turned back to look at Pietro's face.

*' _I am well, it is well. It is_ _ **good**_ _here. They will not separate us again. If they do,_ _ **then**_ _we will leave._ ' His eyes met hers now, soft, calm, gentle..

"Kid, I'm so sorry.." Clint spoke again as soon as he got the chance. "It's not going to happen again. I swear. It was my fault, you're right." He looked at Wanda, now. "I shouldn't have asked you two to separate, I shouldn't have told Pietro to stay in there and do whatever Laura said. I genuinely thought that there would be no issues, and for that I'm sorry." _Fuck,_ he just wanted to hug the boy. He _had_ told him to stay inside, to do what Laura said.. he was positive that was a good part of the reason Pietro had not argued or tried to explain what happened. The fact that the kid had just stood there and taken it..

Clint stood there, rather awkwardly, with his arms at his sides. He was pretty sure if he made a move towards Pietro to embrace him, the younger man was going to take it as a threat. And besides, he was positive if he moved any closer, he was going to be thrown across the field in a blur of scarlet mist.

Suddenly, though, his arms were full. Pietro had taken the initiative and moved to give the archer a quick embrace, though one hand remained behind his back, linked to his sister's the entire time. He pulled back away fairly quickly, but Clint was thrilled to have even received that small gesture of trust.

"Next time, _you_ will ask me first?" Pietro was back at his sister's side, her hands rested up on his chest. " _You_ will, um…" he took pause, looking rather embarrassed "do _that_ in private, away from the children?" And then added, "With Wanda there." Sometimes he forgot that other people didn't consider things 'private' when a third person was there… to the twins, though, they _were_ one person. And he never wanted to be separated from her again. He felt her lift her head to protest his words— _nobody_ was ever going to touch him again. _Nobody_ , lest she rip their fucking throat out. Before she could speak, though, Clint interjected.

"It's _not_ going to happen again. Laura didn't realize—I never told her all that you kids have been through. Nothing like that is going to happen again." Clint felt just a little like he might throw up, the way Pietro was now talking.. ' _Next time', 'in private',_ and he didn't miss the emphasis Pietro had put on _Clint_ being the one to do it 'next time'. "This _won't_ happen again, I promise you. If you kids will just—just stay, please. Give this another try, and if it doesn't work, you're free to go."

Pietro could practically hear the words from his sister—" _We_ _ **know**_ _. We will leave whenever we choose to."_ He put his hand through her hair again, pleased when that seemed to calm her enough to not give voice to the thought.

"We will stay," Pietro spoke, after a long moment. He paused again, giving room for his sister to voice any objections. "Besides, we do not have anywhere else to go." He spoke it with humor, although they each knew how brutally true it was. "So I guess we are stuck here with you, old man." Clint let out a relieved chuckle when Pietro flashed a smile at him.

"I guess so," He replied, rather at a loss for words at the moment. "I'm gonna head back inside, make sure everyone's settled down.." He paused. He considered assuring Pietro that Cooper was about to get _his_ butt busted over this, but decided it would probably only upset Pietro. He pretended he didn't see the half-smile from Wanda as she heard his thoughts, her head now tilted against her brother's chest, rested against her own hands partially hidden. At least he knew she'd keep Pietro outside for a while, though he'd already figured they wouldn't be in any hurry to go back in, in any case.

"I'll see you kids when you're ready to see me." He finished, before turning back towards the house. That last part had seemed important. That they knew they were in control of what they did, that they were, in no way, stuck there, or under any obligation to be around him when they did not explicitly _want_ to be.

"And Pietro?"

The kid lifted his head again, from where he still cradled his sister, toying with her hair once again.

"Thank you. You're a good kid."

That damned grin again. "I know, I am irresistible, it is the reason you try so persistently to keep me around."

Clint laughed again, shaking his head as he turned away. "Sure, we'll go with that."

 **Wow sooooo… I didn't mean for it to be so long! It sort of just… happened, though! Side note that I'm going to marry Wanda and I know I didn't give her much dialog and I sort of hate myself for that (along with just for writing this story in the first place). Anyways, I'm pretty happy with the final product but I'd like to know if you guys are too, so… please be kind and… "save a life, spare a review… " Les mis, anyone? No? okay… ignore me, pls**


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